MENGELE DIED A 'PARANOID' MAN, MEDICAL EXPERT SAYS

Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor of Auschwitz, was a "tired old man" who lived a "paranoid existence" in his later years, the head of the U.S. medical team that examined bones believed to be Mengele's said Saturday.

Dr. Leslie Lukash, chief medical examiner of Nassau County on Long Island, said he believed "with reasonable scientific certainty" that the skeletal remains in Brazil were those of Mengele.

The international team of medical experts in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday positively identified a 1979 drowning victim as Mengele, the "Angel of Death" who sent 400,000 people to their deaths at Auschwitz.

"Mengele did not live in grandeur or splendor. He was a tired old man with medical problems living on the run, living a paranoid existence," Lukash said.

Lukash led a team of American forensic experts -- including a radiologist, dentist and anthropologist -- which worked 18-hour days in the medical-legal institute of Sao Paulo.

Underwritten by the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Foundation, the group investigated "historical data" and examined the skeleton, Lukash said. They received records dating from 1938 from the West German government and additional information from the Austrian and Paraguayan governments, he said. Officials of the Simon Weisenthal Foundation in Los Angeles said Friday they were satisfied with the identification, but Israel said it wants to first study "some new material" before accepting the judgment, and some Jewish groups said they still did not believe the remains were those of Mengele.

Germany sent Mengele's medical file, his application to the SS, a record of his motorcycle accident, and a detailed family history, Lukash said.

But there weren't any X-rays, he said. If they were available "we could say with 100 percent certainty" the remains were Mengele's, he added.

Their examination never confirmed reports that Mengele drowned, Lukash added. The Brazilian government had a death certificate but no record of the drowning, he said.

The doctor said there was a small hole in the skull that probably was caused by an inflammation, and there was evidence of an abcess in the sinus area.

Lukash, Nassau County's chief medical examiner for 29 years, said he was first asked to go to Brazil by Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y. He told the senator he would need a team, and the Wiesenthal Foundation then volunteered to underwrite the costs of the investigation.

Lukash said he was exhausted by the trip, but would "do it again. There's an obligation to search for the truth."